Woman makes it onto flight in Texas with gun in her purse

DALLAS (Reuters) - A 65-year-old woman made it past a checkpoint and onto a flight at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on Wednesday with a revolver tucked away in her handbag, and was only stopped after the plane was called back to the gate, the airport said.

The woman was carrying a .38-caliber revolver in her handbag, the airport said in a statement. She was to be charged with a state felony for carrying a weapon where prohibited.

The release said airport police got a call from the Transportation Security Administration at about 6 a.m., asking for help locating a person who had gotten through the checkpoint but needed secondary screening.

Airport Department of Public Safety officers searched all five terminals and found the woman at about 8 a.m. on board an American Airlines domestic flight that had been called back to the gate for inspection. A total of 10 flights were delayed an average of 20-25 minutes during the incident.

The TSA has said that airport security officers found about four firearms per day, many of them loaded, at airport checkpoints last year. Most passengers said they had forgotten the weapons were in their bags, the TSA said.